Amid no signs of conflict easing in the Middle East, AP Moller-Maersk has increased its profit guidance for the year.
The liner giant expects its free cash flow to reach at least $2bn this year, up from a previous forecast of at least $1bn.
“Due to the continued supply chain disruption caused by the situation in the Red Sea, which is now expected to continue at least until the end of 2024, coupled with robust container market demand, APMM upgrades its full-year 2024 guidance,” it said on Thursday.
Houthi warfare on ships crossing the Bab el-Mandeb strait in response to the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza has caused vessels to avoid the waterway and sail around southern Africa instead, increasing tonne-miles, shortening tonnage supply and boosting the revenue of shipping companies.
As a result, Maersk now expects underlying 2024 Ebitda to reach between $9bn and $11bn, increasing a previous guidance of $7bn to $9bn.
At the same time, it forecasts Ebit to land between $3bn and $5bn, compared with a previous guidance of $1bn to $3bn.
These estimates are underpinned by Maersk expecting global container market volume growth for the full year of between 4% and 6%.
This is at the upper range of its previous forecast of between 2.5% and 4.5%.
